A Brief History of Legendary BMW Tuning House Alpina

In a sleepy hamlet outside the city of Munich, a handful of engineers and designers are constantly at work to try to extract even more performance and luxury from BMW models—as of this year, they've been doing it for half of a century. This year, Alpina marks its long and illustrious run of acting as official and unofficial performance tuning division for BMW. As a tribute, we present a short history of the company and its greatest hits.

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Alpina dates back to the early 1960s, after craftsman Burkhard Bovensiepen decided not to enter the family business of manufacturing typewriters, but instead start a business of enhancing BMW products. The catalyst for the founding of the company was the introduction of the BMW's "New Class" of sedan, the boxy, 80-horsepower 1500. For the sake of added performance, Bovensiepen fitted a 1500 with a Weber twin carburetor, giving it a 15 percent boost in horsepower. A guerilla marketing campaign in 1963, which consisted of flyers placed on windshields, stated that "For 950 DM, you can have 20 more horsepower."

Alpina

It worked. By the time Bovensiepen's 1500 was modified, it was nearly as powerful as the newly introduced BMW 1800—attracting the attention of BMW, which began to officially certify Bovensiepen's creations with the company warranty in 1964. Ever the devoted son, Bovensiepen ensured that the name of the family typewriter business, Alpina, lived on when his company formed in 1965.

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In its first years, Alpina established its core competency tuning carburetors and crankshafts to extract more power from BMW engines, elements that eventually defined the company's logo. Determining which model was the very first BMW-Alpina—or is it Alpina BMW?— is a topic of some debate. Some gearhead historians argue that it was the 1600-2, which introduced a 165-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine into the New Class style before anyone ever uttered "2002." BMW argues that it was the 1978 B21 3 Series B6 2.8, which utilized a 2.8-liter six-cylinder engine at a time when 3 Series models were equipped with four-cylinder engines. It would take until the introduction of the Alpina V8 Roadster in the early 2000s for an Alpina to be sold directly through BMW channels in the United States.

Alpina

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It didn't take long for Alpina to gain serious attention for its passenger cars, although it's difficult can't tell the Alpina story without mentioning the company's involvement in racing, which began almost simultaneously. In 1968, Alpina entered European touring car racing with ambition. Two years later, it was a banner year for the company's racing efforts when Alpinas took top honors in the European Touring Car Championship and the 24 Hours of Spa, as well as hill-climb and rally challenges. Alpinas would win again in 1970, 1973, and 1977, and Bovensiepen began to collect wine from the places where his cars were winning, and eventually amassed a serious collection. Today, Alpina Wines—yes, that's a thing—has over 1 million reserve bottles. Later, Alpina led development of the BMW 3.0CSL, a lightweight version of the E9 coupe.

The establishment of Alpina predated the 1972 creation of BMW's in-house M division. The major difference between the two tuning powerhouses, according to BMW? "The relationship between Alpina and BMW has developed over the years from Alpina buying complete cars from BMW and changing original parts to Alpina to nowadays, where Alpina is involved in projects and the early development process." Think of Alpina as M's gran turismo foil.

Chris Cantle

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In 1983, the company was registered as an official manufacturer of automobiles in Germany, going far beyond the usual customizer treatment and offering full factory warranties. Since then, its expertise has been sought by the likes of Volkswagen czar Ferdinand Piech—and denied. Even Jaguar took interest in purchasing Alpina, under the watch of Premier Automotive Group head Wolfgang Reitzle, but it was not to be. Alpina exited racing in the late '80s, after deciding to concentrate on production cars.

Over the brand's 50-year history, the most interesting Alpina creations have historically been the ones deemed too bodacious for BMW to produce in its own factories. In the '70s, as BMWs became larger, more comfortable, and regimented by series, Alpina continued its crusade to make cars even more powerful and driver-focused, as evinced by the aforementioned B6 2.8. In the '80s, there was the 360-hp B10 Biturbo of the late '80s, based on the 5-series sedan, which boasted a top speed of approximately 180 mph. The B12 5.7 Coupe of the '90s, derived from the 8-series coupe, was even faster.

Alpina

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Today, Alpina continues to operate out of its facility outside of Munich, and produces new models with plenty of lead time and cooperation from BMW. Alpina models exist across the BMW lineup, often distinguished by signature 20-spoke wheels, blue/green trademark accent colors, available "Lavalina" leather interior trim, and the prevalence of automatic transmissions. Of late, the Alpina V8 Roadster, nee Z8, returned the Alpina name to the stage in the United States, and—remember the X5 4.6is and 4.8is? They both used Alpina-designed V8 engines. To the appetite-whetted North American enthusiast, Alpina's current lineup of products comprises a smorgasbord of petrol and diesel-powered forbidden fruit—with the exception of the 6 Series-based, 600-hp B6 xDrive Gran Coupe.

Alpina

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Today, Alpina remains a family brand, led by Burkhard Bovensiepen's son, Andreas, who is as adamant about keeping the company's standards as elevated as its products' performance. Carburetors may be a thing of the past, but here's to the next half-century of innovation.

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